


Speak Now

by shirbert1989



Series: Shirbert through albums [3]
Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Jealousy, Princess AU, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:40:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24919987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shirbert1989/pseuds/shirbert1989
Summary: Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, the daughter of Queen Marilla Cuthbert of Avonlea, has had an arranged married with Prince Royal Gardner of Charlottetown since birth. But when Anne’s newly assigned bodyguard is tasked with following her everywhere after she’s caught sneaking out after hours, Anne’s fully planned life takes a bit of a turn.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Winifred Rose, Royal "Roy" Gardner/Anne Shirley
Series: Shirbert through albums [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664980
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	Speak Now

Once upon a time, in the small island of Prince Edward Island, just on the east coast of Canada, a royal dinner was being thrown in the Grand Dining Room on a cold, Tuesday night. The table was filled with voices of members of the Parliament, as well as crude laughter from the wealthy of the island. Queen Marilla sat at the head of the table with her brother, Duke Matthew, on her left side while they chatted with the councilmen across from them. On her right side, a disinterested red-haired princess glared at her self-portrait that hung on the side wall.

The red-haired princess self-consciously grazed her fingers through her red curls. Her hair in the portrait was more auburn than her natural color. The freckles dotting her skin were nearly invisible, not that it hardly mattered, since they had lightened up in the years. But the erasure was still a reminder that her true appearance was not welcomed by society. Though there had been a viral tweet just a year ago comparing a real photo of her compared to a fake one, with many agreeing she was more beautiful in actuality, the berates and whispers of her appearance from her youth still haunted her.

She didn’t tear her eyes away from it until a diplomat’s son that the red-haired princess distastefully recognized as Charlie Sloane tried to start a conversation with her. The conversation consisted of Charlie talking about random topics while she smiled and pretended to listen, adding in commentary when needed to not give off any ideas. After what felt like hours, the princess sighed in relief when Charlie moved on to annoy a different young woman. 

The princess didn’t even notice she barely ate half her plate until the maids began to take people’s away. She shyly handed her plate over to one of her maids, a fair girl named Philippa, who nodded in understanding before walking away. But this didn’t go unnoticed by the Queen, who glanced at her daughter in worry. She shook her head, indicating everything was fine, and the Queen begrudgingly nodded. She wasn’t starving herself, she just could hardly bring herself to eat so much in a public setting where people are judging your every move. One wrong bite of the chicken and suddenly the socialites are giggling in your direction.

The dinner ended faster than she had thought. All the wealthy socialites and the politicians were escorted out, but not without a long, polite goodbye from the Queen and herself. If anyone had noticed her fallen expression as the older men touched her waist, caressed her exposed skin a little too long for liking, or stared down at her chest openly, then they would’ve known the red-haired princess was close to bursting into tears.

But someone did notice, someone who had been watching the young princess the entire dinner. Whether it was a part of his job or it was the simple fact he couldn’t keep his eyes off her, it still served as an excuse for him to stare at her the entire night. 

The tall, strong, raven-haired guard noticed the beautiful red-haired princess had hardly touched her food. He noticed she glared up at the portrait of her and examined every aspect of herself that was changed down to the tiniest bit. He nearly scoffed in amusement when he saw her pretend to pay attention to a chocolate haired diplomat that was obviously flirting with her. But he also noticed the way her expression changed when the men got a little too close for comfort to her when they bid their goodbyes.

His job was to stand post at the door, but when a wealthy man in his near 50’s started eyeing her up and down openly, the raven-haired guard had no choice but to leave post- praying to God that Bash, his boss, would understand- and forcefully escort the man out. The red-haired princess gave a small, thankful smile that he couldn’t reciprocate unless he wanted to receive probably another scolding from Bash.

When everyone was gone, the princess stayed in the dining room, staring openly up at her portrait with a sad expression on her face. She gently touched her cheek as she noticed what else was wrong: her face was more slim. She was fairly skinny and was sure society appreciated that in a girl, but it turned out even her one redeeming trait wasn't enough. The small gasp that escaped her when she noticed did not go unnoticed by the raven-haired guard, though hardly anything ever did. 

The princess soon collected herself as she informed the guards she was going to bed without even turning to them. Her eyes lingered on the portrait a little longer before the clicks of her heels echoed through the quiet dining room.

The guard wanted to break his post again and escort her up. Maybe even tell her not to worry about the portrait, because there was no way it would’ve been able to capture her true beauty. But he couldn’t, and he didn’t, and the red-haired princess dashed into her room as the raven-haired guard stood stoic, wondering _what if?_

Their story begins with a _Once Upon A Time_ , on this fine Tuesday night, where everything will change.   
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short little Prologue I did for you guys because I honestly did not expect people to be as excited for this as they seemed! So thank you!
> 
> Also I’m still sorry but I won’t be working on this for at least a long while but I hope you appreciated this small crumb lol.
> 
> And Ive decided that I’m combining Taylor Swift’s album “Fearless” with this just because I love the love story/fairytale elements in these. So yes, this is going to be unnecessarily long, sorry in advance lol.
> 
> I also hope you don’t mind this being a modern take. I am still going to very much incorporate as many extravagant and fairytale-like scenes as I can! 
> 
> Anyways I hope you all enjoy this! Please tell me what you think!


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